Slat-weaving machine



(No Model.) 2 Sheet's-Sheet 1. A. R. TIFFANY.

- SLAT WEAVING MACHINE. V No. 536,899. Patented Apr. 2,1395.

m: Nonms PEYERS co, PHQTO-LITHO.. wnsmusron. u. c.

Du h S h S 2 Y N A F F I 7 T R A M d I SLAT WEAVING MACHINE.

Patented Apr. 2

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALBERT RODGERS TIFFANY, OF DAYTON, OHIO.

SLAT-WEAVING MACHIN E.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 536,899, dated April2,1895. Application filed May 7, 1894. Serial No. 510,292. (No model.)

Another object of my invention is to provide a double acting machine themechanism being arranged in time movements so that one revolution of thetiming or governing wheel will complete the length of the band and leaveprojecting strands of wires outside of the first and last twists whichstrands are twisted together to form the endless band.

The features of my invention will be fully set forth in the descriptionof the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, inwhich Figure 1, is a top plan View of the weaving machine. Fig. 2, is afront elevation of Fig. 1. Fig. 3, is a perspective view of one of thetwisting spindles. Fig. 4, is a plan view of the ratchet driving cam. 4Fig. 5, is a central vertical section of Fig. 2 with the driving andfeed shaft shown in elevation. Fig. 6, is a plan view of the wiregripping and cutting mechanism. Fig. 7, is a rear face view of thetiming'wheel. Fig. 8, is a plan view of the laterally slat feeding cam.Fig. 9, is a plan view of the longitudinally slat feeding cam. Fig. 10,is a plan'view of the cam for driving the twisting-mechanism. Fig. 11,is a'plan View of the band of slats from which the endless blank isformed.

A represents the base of the frame of the machine; A, the uprightportion.

B represents the main'gdriving shaft; B, the driving pulley. Upon thisdriving shaft are mounted the following cams: 0 represents the cam forthe laterally feeding mechanism.

0 represents the-cam for operating the slat twisting feed. 0 representsthe cam operating the mechanism for feeding the-slats forwardlongitudinally from one side of the machine. 0 represents the camoperating the mechanism for feeding the slats forward lontudinally fromthe opposite side. 0 represents the'cam operating the gripping, cutting,discharging and tripping mechanism. These cams control all themechanisms in timemovements so that each portion of the operation oftwisting or forming the band shown in Fig. 11, will be performedconsecutively in appropriate manner.

In the preferred form of construction the slats are placed in thehoppers D and D, on the table D, only one of these hoppers being shownthe opposite one being omitted for the purpose of illustrating theconstruction.

a represents a series of slats piled one above the other in the hopper.The feeding of these slats is the initial operation and this isaccomplished in the following manner:

E represents a lever the end of which is slotted spanning the shaft B asshown in Figs. 5 and 9, and it is armed with a roller which travels in aslot e of the cam 0 The forward end of said lever E is pivotallyconnected to the connecting rod E (Fig. 2) which journals at E on theframe of the machine. The upper end of said connecting rod is journaledto the link E This link is hinged to the stud e projecting down from theunder side of the plunger F. When in the normal position this plunger Fis retracted nearly to its outermost position. When fully retracted theslats a drop down in front of the plunger on the table D It will be seenfrom the plan view of the cam in Fig. 9, that a small portion of thiscam groove at the extreme right hand is concentric with the shaft B, inwhich the roller works idle and during this interim the weaving operation is performed. The remaining portion of the cam movementreciprocates the plunger F backward and forward. Plunger F on the lefthand'side of the machine is shown partly retracted. The plunger F isshown in position feeding the slats forward. Each plunger F,1F',alternately feeds the slat forward from its respective hopper anddelivers it in position for the twisting.

G, G, representthe twisting spindles. These spindles are each slotted attheir forward ends, making separated members thereof through each ofwhich is threaded a wire to be twisted around the slat. The slots 19 arepreferably of a size just large enough to receive a slat and hold it inthe plane of its laterally feeding movement. The slots 1) are horizontaland the spindles stationary when each of the feeding mechanisms is inoperation. The slats are fed into the slots by the longitudinal feeds F,F, and moved out into the Wire by the plunger WV.

The twisting mechanism consists of the spindles G, G, which are revolvedfor twisting the strands. The driving mechanism of these spindles iscomposed of the cam O, lever H, and yoke frame H, upon the upper ends ofwhich are mounted the rack bars I, I. The teeth of these racks meshrespectively with the gear 1 on the spindles G, G. It will be observedthat the earn 0 is provided with the groove (1 having two workingportions d and (Z and two idle portions d and d, and the cam operates soas to raise the rack bars I, I. WVhen the roller t' on the lever II istraveling in the working portions d of the groove (1 then the roller isidle until it is moved around to the portion d when the rack bars I, I,are brought down and the spindles are revolved in the oppositedirection. This is for the purpose of twisting the wires between two ofthe slats in one direction and between the next two slats in theopposite direction, to prevent the wires from kinking on the reels J, J.

In order to hold the slat firmly and to prevent it from splitting whilethe wires are being twisted and in order to bring the twist into thenotches of the slat, I employ keeper blocks X, X, which are providedwith slots of the size of the slats, which are forced into said slotsfrom the slotted or divided spindles by plunger W.

I, I, in Fig. 2 represent grooves in the slotted faces of the keepers X,X, just large enough to receive the wires. The slats are forced out ofthe keepers by the feeding of the next slat. This is continued until therequisite number of slats have been wooven ready for the final deliveryoperation.

The gripping mechanism, the cutting mechanism and thelaterallydelivering mechanism are operated primarily from cam 0 in the followingmanner:

K represents a lever provided with the roller traveling in the groove (1which is raised and lowered during each revolution of the shaft E. Uponthis lever are mounted links L, L, hinged thereto at one end and thelinkarms M, M, at the opposite ends. These arms each journal upon a stud-pinm and upon each end-is mounted a pawl 72., 01'. These pawls engage withnotches on the disk N which is rigidly attached to the revolving disk 0.One of the pawls, say it, is operated by the upward motion of lever Kmoving disks N and 0 one step. On the downward movementthe opposite pawl71 moves these disks another step. These step movements of the disks N,O, are for operating the gripping, cutting and laterally deliveringmechanisms and also for tripping the longitudinal slat feed.

The following operative parts are attached to the slide P:

19 represents a slot in said slide P through which passes the stud pinm. This stud pin is tapped into the frame piece m and the disk 0journals thereon. The disk 0 is armed with cams q, r, s, which engagewith the rollers on the slide P and a secondary slide Q, which works ingrooves formed in the slide P. To this slide Q are pivoted bell crankgripping arms S, S.

S S represent stationary gripping arms. These gripping arms are operatedat the end of each revolution of the disks N, O, for gripping the wiresby raising up the secondary slide Q and grabbing the wires between thejaws of the grips and the knives T sever the wires. This motion isobtained as follows: Referring to Figs. 6 and 7, the cam '1" passesunder and engages the roll 7" on the slide P, raising the latter. As thecam 7 passes off the roll, the cam s engages the roll 'v on the slide Q,lifting it, while the rear end of cams engages the roll 'v, to throw theslide down. The cam r being on the revolving disk O,it is brought oncein every revolution into contact with the roller r, on the slide P. Thecam r passes under the roller and raises it, lifting the slide andthereby bringing the stationary grips into position to grasp the wire,when the secondary slide Q is raised. The slide P is raised to bring thestationary grips S S into position by means of the cam rengaging withthe roller 0" on said slide. Operated by disk 0 is the dischargingmechanism which consists of the bell crank lever V which is journaled onthe stud of frame piece m on the outer end of which is a roller 10 whichengages with the cam g on the disk 0 to oscillate the lever. On theupper end of this lever V is an arm or plunger 72 the forward end ofwhich rests upon an incline on the frame piece m This frame-pieceextends up and has a horizontal ledge 'm (Fig. 5) which is inclined uponits rear edge. The plunger it rests upon this incline and when saidplunger is moved forward, it will be raised by said incline and willengage the slats. When the cam q acts on the roller w the plunger itraises in the rear of slat a and moves the slats forward on to thedelivery table a. The Wire is then out which is the final movementdischarging the band. The slats are however consecutively moved forwardduring the process of weaving in the following manner:

0 represents the operating cam. It is provided with agroove having fourworking faces g, g, g 9 0' represents a roller mounted upon the lever72/ traveling in said groove.

72. represents a link connecting the lever h to the stud h on theplunger W. This is reciprocated twice each revolution by the cam landthe lever h in the following manner: After the first slat a, has beenfed longitudinally into the twisting spindles this plunger isreciprocated and moves the slat forward oneste'p, and the twistingspindles revolve it and then move back and after thesecond slat has beenfed into the twisting spindles it is again reciprocated to move thesecond slat forward.

In order that the wire may be twisted in the rear of theseri'es of slatsleaving strands as in 2, 2, Fig. 11, it is necessary to stop the feedingforward of slats during this operation. This isaccomplished in thefollowing manner:

3 represents the slide bar whichis guided centrally by a pin or rollera. The ends of this slide engage withyoke arms 6.

7 represents the jaws of the yoke arms which seat in recesses in thetable under the hopper. The yoke arms rock on shaft 8. The slats rest onthe jaws 7. Now as cam t on the disk 0 engages with pin 4 of slide 3, itlifts yoke 6 upupon each side and with them raises the slats so that thefeeding of the slats forward to the twisting mechanism is stopped whilethe last twist is being put in the rear of the slat a. The length of thestrands under the twist or knot is determined by the travel of the arm hon the lever V, which moves the slat far enough forward on the table aso that the wires are cut off a sufficient distance from the knotortwist to form the secondary twisting strands 2.

Mode of operation-The wires are threaded through the spindles andthrough the slots in the keepers and the preliminary knot is made in theend of the wires by hand. Then the machine is started up and a slat isfed forward from one end of the machine and placed in the grooves of theslotted or divided spindles which brings the slat between the two wireswhich are to be twisted around the slat. Then feeding arm h movesplunger W forward carrying the slat from the divided spindles anddelivering it into the grooved keepers. The spindles .are then revolvedby the operation of lever H and cam C twisting the second knot in therear slot of the slat. Then the second slat is fed forward into thedivided spindle and then plunger W moves it forward forcing the firstslat on to the table a and placing the second slat in the groovedkeepers drawing the wires through the divided spindles a sufficientdistance to form the second loop., Then the spindles are revolved againin the opposite direction making a second twist. This operation iscontinued until the requisite number of slats are twisted to form theband. When the timing wheel or disk 0 has moved until the cam t engageswith the slide 3, and lifts the jaws 7 which raises the slats in theirhoppers so that the feeding plunger F will not deliver a slat, in themean time the plunger It has been brought into position and ejected thelast slat from the keepers. The strands of wire are then grasped by thegrippers S, 5 actuated by the slides P, Q. The wires are severed byknives T but are held by the grippers until the next preliminary twistis formed which takes place'durin g the time that the jaws 'Z areelevated to hold the slats out of the way of feeding plunger. The theslides P, Q, are brought back into their normal position while the firstslat of a new band is being fed forward into the divided spindles. Ihave shown the endless band to be composed of fourteen slats. TimingdiskO is provided with fifteen step movements. Dnringthelast step movementthe slats are lifted, the wires cut and the preliminary twist for thenew band is formed.

I claim- 1. In aslat-weaving machine, the combination of one or morereciprocating slat-feeding plungers, with weaving spindles the frontends of which are divided into separated members between which the slatis received and held, and mechanism for operating the sameintermittently of the operation of the twisting spindles, and drivingmechanism operating said twisting spindles intermittently in timemovements, substantially as specified.

2. In a slat-weaving machine the longitudinal slat-feeding mechanism,consisting of one ormoreintermittentlyreciprocating plungers, incombination with weaving spindles provided with slots adapted to receiveand hold the slats in the plane of their laterally feeding movement, andautomatic driving mechanism for operating each of said partsintermittently in time movements with each other,

substantially as specified.

3. In a slat-weaving machine, the combination of one or morereciprocating feeding plungers, the laterally reciprocating deliveryplunger W, the weaving spindles provided with slots 1), and drivingmechanism for operating the said parts each automatically andintermittently in time movements with each other, substantially asspecified.

4. In a slat weaving machine employing twisting spindles and feedingmechanism for moving the slats intermittently forward for twisting, theslotted end clamps X, X, for

holding the slats during the' operation of twisting, substantially asspecified. v

5. In a slat weaving machine, in combination with the weaving spindles,the disk 0 re volved by step by step driving mechanism, and devicesmounted on said disk for actuating grips and cutters at statedintervals, substantially as specified.

6. In a slat weaving machine in combination with the spindles G, G, andmechanism for operating the same intermittently, the disk 0, the cam qmounted thereon, and the delivery armh operated by said cam at statedintervals between the Weaving operation, substantially as specified.

7. In combination with a slat weaving machine, the hoppers D, D mountedon the ta ble D-", and on each side of the wire twisting spindles, andmechanism for operating the plungers F, F alternately with each other intime movements, substantially as specified.

IIO

8. In a slat weaving machine employing one or more feeding hoppers andmechanism for feeding the slats therefrom intermittently, the step bystep moving disk 0, the yoke jaws 7 supporting the slats, and mechanismactuated by said disk for raising the jaws to suspend the slat feedingat stated intervals, substantially as specified.

9. In a slat weaving machine, the disk 0 and mechanism for revolving thesame in step by step movements, in combination with aslide P,wiregripping jaws mounted thereon, and mechanism for actuating the grippersat a stated point of the revolution of said disk, substantially asspecified.

10. In a slat weaving machine, the combination of longitudinal slatfeeding devices operated intermittently, the laterally slat deliveringplunger W, and driving mechanism for operating the same intermittentlyand between the operation of the longitudinal feeding devices, thetwisting spindles, and mechanism for revolving the said spindles, wiregripping and severing devices, and mechanism for automatically operatingthe said parts in time movements, substantially as specified.

11. In aslat weaving machine, the combination of the slat feedingmechanism, the slat delivery plunger W, the wire twisting devicesoperated in time movements to weave the slats successi vely after theyare delivered from the spindles, the secondary slat moving arm h, anddevices for operating the same in time movements, and mechanism forsuspending the slat feeding at stated intervals, whereby a series ofslats is woven into a web with the strands knotted at each end thereof,substantially as specified.

12. A slat weaving machine composed substantially of the weavingspindles provided with slots 1), and wires threaded through each memberthereof, the longitudinal slat feeding mechanism, the laterally slatmoving plunger W, the wire gripping devices, the wire cutters, thetripping mechanism for suspending the slat feeding, and the drivingmechanism mounted upon the shaft 13 arranged to operate the said devicesconsecutively in time movements, whereby a web of slats is woven withknots tied in each end of the strands, substantially as specified.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

ALBERT RODGERS TIFFANY.

Witnesses:

W. R. W001), E. E. W001).

